Alex Dunbar 2

Today is Rememberence Day, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month. Rather than waiting til next Anzac Day to continue the story of Alex Dunbar, I thought I would try something today. I am going to try and cut and paste an email into this post, and I do not know if it will work. Here's hoping.
Hi DonaldThe only reference to that name in my records is
Alexander Dunbar, wife and five childrenin the passenger list of the Hydaspes which departed from London on 3rd July 1869 and arrived at Lyttleton on 29th September 1869, a bit early for your chap.However, this must be him (from the CWGC site):
No
Surname
Rank
Service Number
Date Of Death
Age
Regiment/Service
Nationality
Grave/Memorial Ref.
Cemetery/Memorial Name
1
DUNBAR, ALEXANDER
Lance Corporal
434423
12/08/1944
22
New Zealand Infantry
New Zealand
VII. A. 18.
FLORENCE WAR CEMETERY
Name:
DUNBAR, ALEXANDER
Initials:
A
Nationality:
New Zealand
Rank:
Lance Corporal
Regiment/Service:
New Zealand Infantry
Unit Text:
22nd (Motor) Bn
Force:

-->
Age:
22
Date of Death:
12/08/1944
Service No:
434423
Additional information:
Son of Robert and Phoebe Dunbar, of Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.
Casualty Type:
Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference:
VII. A. 18.
Cemetery:
FLORENCE WAR CEMETERY
Cemetery Details
Cemetery:
FLORENCE WAR CEMETERY
Country:
Italy
Locality:
unspecified
Visiting Information:
The cemetery is permanently open and may be visited anytime. Wheelchair access to the site is possible, but may be by alternative entrance. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Section on telephone number 01628 507200.
Location Information:
If travelling by road, from the A1 Rome to Milan exit at Firenze Sud and continue over the River Arno to the first set of traffic lights. Turn right onto SS67, direction Forli, and continue for 3.2 kilometres to the village of Girone. The Cemetery is signposted and can be found on the right hand side. If travelling by public transport, from Florence Central Station (S. Maria Novella), take the bus line 14A to the terminal at Girone. Florence War Cemetery is in Via Aretina, approximately 100 metres from the terminal.
Historical Information:
On 3 September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. Following the fall of Rome to the Allies in June 1944, the German retreat became ordered and successive stands were made on a series of defensive positions known as the Trasimene, Arezzo, Arno and Gothic Lines. Florence, which was taken by the Allied forces on 13 August 1944, was the centre of the Arno line and the point from which the attack on the German Gothic Line defences in the Apennines was launched. The site for the war cemetery was selected in November 1944 for burials from the hospitals established in and around Florence but the greater part of those buried here lost their lives in the fighting in this area from July to September 1944. After the war, 83 graves were moved into the cemetery from nearby Arrow Route Cemetery, when it proved impossible to acquire the site in perpetuity. Most of these burials were from the fighting in the Apennines during the winter of 1944-1945. Florence War Cemetery now contains 1,632 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.
No. of Identified Casualties:
1620To see the location of the cemetery click on this link http://fhr.kiwicelts.com/Cemeteries/NZ_Cemetery_Map.html?ID=ITA00016&rld=0.7097713312628713 which will take you to another of my web pages. Select Satellite using the "map" option at the top right and double click the Icon to see a photo of it from the air.
Kind Regards
MurrayChristchurchNew Zealand
Thanks Murray, just brilliant.
It has not copied as well as I hoped, as there is a lovely photo of the Cemetery in Florence, but maybe that will work on the link.
Then I got more from Murray......
Hi Donald - apart from the map (which is mine and Google's), it is all from the CWGC website http://www.cwgc.org/. I'm quite sure that they allow publication. If you go to http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14 and search for him he is the only one you will find of that name in the NZ forces for WW2. I just cut & pasted it. (btw CWGC is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)The first place I would try for relatives is the Rootsweb / New Zealand genealogy interest group - are you aware of it? If not let me know and I'll show you how to join.
Kind Regards
MurrayChristchurchNew ZealandVisit us at KiwiCelts.com for ...
Now what I have to do is visit all these sites, then we have to find out if he had any brothers or sisters, then I have to find out from Dad what happened to him, then we have to remember him. These things are the least we can do.
He was 22 years old.